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Citing sources in APA style 6th ed.

Crediting sources and formatting references according to the style of the American Psychological Association (APA). Based on the 6th edition of the Publication Manual of the APA.

Doctoral dissertation and master's theses: general form

  • For a doctoral dissertation or master’s thesis not available from a database service such as Proquest Dissertations and Theses use the following format:

    Author, A. A. (year). Title of doctoral dissertation or master’s thesis (Unpublished doctoral dissertation or Master’s thesis). Name of Institution, Location.

  • For a doctoral dissertation or master's thesis available on the Internet, use "Retrieved from http://....."instead of "Name of Institution, Location": 
    Author, A. A. (year). Title of doctoral dissertation or master’s thesis (Doctoral dissertation or Master’s thesis). Retrieved from http://www.xxxxx  
     
  • For a doctoral dissertation or master’s thesis available from a database service such as Proquest Dissertations and Theses, use the following format:

    Author, A. A. (year). Title of doctoral dissertation or master’s thesis (Doctoral dissertation or Master’s thesis). Retrieved from Name of database. (Accession or Order No.)

Doctoral dissertation on the internet or from an institutional repository

Akker, C. van den. (2009). Beweren en tonen: Waarheid, taal en het verleden (Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/2066/65538

Weekers, J. (2016). Embracing one's archrival: A case study on the role of ideas and preferences in the German reunification process (Master's thesis). Retrieved from https://theses.ubn.ru.nl/handle/123456789/2165

  • Only if a dissertation or master's thesis was completed at one school but is now hosted on the server of another school, add the name of the originating university in parentheses to clarify its origin: (Doctoral dissertation, Radboud University).

Master's thesis available from a database service

McNeil, D. S. (2006). Meaning through narrative: A personal narrative discussing growing up with an alcoholic mother (Master’s thesis). Available from Proquest Dissertation and Theses database. (UMI No. 1434728)